Which version to get

TerrorFirmer

I'm getting an old machine in a week or so and I plan on giving Linux a lash, probably one of the ones that resemble xp for ease of learning.

It will be a 700mhz Celeron, and won't be used for anything other then listening to music and browsing the net, although it might be used for the odd game of soldier of fortune 2 which under wine seems to be fine with linux.

I have a geforce 2 set aside here for it as I know nvidia have better driver support, but what about my sound card (i have loads of old generic 5.1 ones and a SB or two) and my wifi usb key, etc, i've heard about alot of problems getting even mainstream sound cards working with several of the versions

What would anyone recommend for a total linux beginner for the above?

Khannie

ubuntu

Capt'n Midnight

For the internet - do you have a modem - or a network card

ubuntu and knoppix are debian based. if you are having problems detecting hardware the knoppix cd is pretty good at picking it up. Knoppix is not designed to be installed on a HDD permenantly as it can't be upgraded because it has been tweaked so much.

for something that looks like windows 98, puppylinux is good for a laugh

do you have 128MB of RAM on the PIII ?

TerrorFirmer

Thanks for the suggestions. Will have 256mb Ram.

Also probably have network card but ideally would like be able use wifi key...

Khannie

for 256M of ram, you might consider xubuntu which is more lightweight.

SouperComputer

DSL, Dawm Small Linux

Urban Weigl

FreeBSD. Oops, thought for a second there this was the Unix forum.

If it's Linux you're after, which is not Unix, I recommend Ubuntu. It's easy to set up and use.

aidan_walsh

If it's Linux you're after, which is not Unix, I recommend Ubuntu.

*yawn* RTFOP.

Running FC6 as my main installation myself, and RC4 as my server. Both are pretty nice IMO.

Khannie

Urban Weigl wrote:

If it's Linux you're after, which is not Unix

Shouldn't you have called it GNU/Linux? :rolleyes:

Christ. The sooner we get a name change to this forum the better tbh.

verbatim

xubuntu is great for old machines. It runs fast and has all the good features you need. Have it running on a P3 with 128mb of ram, and it flys along. Its also extremely easy to install.

monkey tennis

Urban Weigl wrote:

FreeBSD. Oops, thought for a second there this was the Unix forum.

If it's Linux you're after, which is not Unix, I recommend Ubuntu. It's easy to set up and use.

Hey, there's a Star Trek convention on just down the road! Don't forget your rubber pointy ears!



...


OK lads, he's gone now, we can talk in peace.

philologos

kubuntu or ubuntu should run fine on 256MB (I used both on an old P4 machine I had) now I use kubuntu on 1GB ram

challengemaster

I myself am just starting to use ubuntu, im using it as a live cd atm until im content with using it. its nice and easy to use tbh. be prepared for reading tho, and lots of it.

ethernet

HavoK wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions. Will have 256mb Ram.

Also probably have network card but ideally would like be able use wifi key...

I bought this NIC from dabs.com. Dead cheap but it works perfectly with Ubuntu 6.06 on an old PC. Just had to enable it [as root] last time I logged in.

Beelzebub

I'm giving Freespire a try at the minute and it seems very user friendly.

Khannie

monkey tennis wrote:

Hey, there's a Star Trek convention on just down the road! Don't forget your rubber pointy ears!

ROFL.

Nice one.

Catsmokinpot

im also looking to install linux on my new pc and have it dual boot, getting sick of mr gates and his prices, from what ive seen on the interwebulon it looks like ubuntu is the way to go, shall i start out on this one?

challengemaster

Catsmokinpot wrote:

im also looking to install linux on my new pc and have it dual boot, getting sick of mr gates and his prices, from what ive seen on the interwebulon it looks like ubuntu is the way to go, shall i start out on this one?

try it, cant hurt Click

Catsmokinpot

challengemaster wrote:

try it, cant hurt Click

thanks man but i already downloaded it , and mandrake, need to create a partition aswell, how much space do you think i should make for linux?

challengemaster

probably 93mb for grub boot loader, 1gb for swap drive, and whatever you want as /home

djmarkus

openSuse. 10.1,

But with 256m ram, Puppy or DSL. if you dont have an broadband then i dont reccomend (x,k)ubuntu, it doesnt give you much off the CD.

ZENER

Mandriva 2007 is good as was Mandriva 2006, comes with a very handy control center for configuring everything and has some very nice visual tweaks. Needs >256MB though to run smoothly.

ZEN

Keedowah

how does ubuntu compare to Fedora? Better?

Khannie

Keedowah wrote:

how does ubuntu compare to Fedora? Better?

Depends what you're looking for. I prefer ubunutu myself. There's not gonna be a /huge/ difference between them. They're all linux in the end.

Blowfish

Beelzebub wrote:

I'm giving Freespire a try at the minute and it seems very user friendly.

Same here, its kindof a lazy mans Linux. It definitely was the easiest to set up, the install took only 10 mins, and installed absolutely everything, codecs, 3D accelerated drivers, wireless and ethernet all worked out of the box, with absolutely no effort required.

Cormic

I would also recommend Xubuntu. It runs like a rocket on older machines. It is a good idea to be connected on broadband to get all the updates and add ins though.